Civilian Icemen do their part in improving Eielson communications

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Nora Anton
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  The civilian workers of Altech Services, Inc. are hard at work fulfilling jobs that once belonged to Airmen here.

"Altech is the prime contractor for the telecommunications on Eielson," said Howard Smith, 354th Communication Squadron Altech site lead. "We are directly responsible for cable, antenna, telephone and telephone switch maintenance."

The small business that supports the DoD harbors telephone maintainers and operators, and land mobile radio communications workers who, with those under their subcontractor, Rome Research Corp., replaced more than a quarter of the 354th CS military manpower during the tail end of 2007.

Rome Research Corp., is responsible for the offices in charge of base publications and forms, frequency management, switchboard operators, official mail center and postal service center.

The decision to replace 40 military bodies with 29 contractors was part of the A-79 Initiative, said Capt. Bart Jordan, 354th CS plans and resources flight commander.

"The longstanding policy of the federal government has been to rely on the private sector for needed commercial services," said Captain Jordan. "To ensure that the American people receive maximum value for their tax dollars, commercial activities should be subject to the forces of competition."

Captain Jordan also said that with the switch to outsourcing jobs to civilians, the 354th CS's mission has not changed.

"The 354th CS still provides communications services to the 354th Fighter Wing," he said. "What has changed is the workflow process for assigning Altech technicians to job requests from within the wing."

Captain Jordan said once the work order is received, Altech contractors get right to work and within three days conduct a site survey to supply a cost estimate to the quality assurance evaluator. Then, if the work is approved, Altech Services have 10 working days to complete the work.

"I think we are doing a really good job," said Mr. Smith. "Our work orders are being completed a lot faster and our customer surveys are telling us we are doing a quality job for our customers."

Mr. Smith said that most of the civilian workers are prior military.

Dan O'Connor, 354th CS Altech inside plant lead tech, spent six of his nine-year enlistment at Eielson as a staff sergeant working for the 354th CS doing the same line of work.

"I enjoy being a DoD Contractor," said Mr. O'Connor, "it feels kind of the same but with a different uniform."

He said that the work is nearly the same as far as tempo and type of jobs, but as a civilian, he doesn't get caught up in the whirlwind that can sometimes be involved with the military.

"With being a contractor, it is easier to invest my full attention into the quantity and especially the quality of work and not having to worry about EPRs and PHAs and things like that," he said. "They're necessary for the military but not a necessity for contractors."